10 Great Movies That Became Horrible Franchises

This holiday season at the multiplex, you have a choice: You can see a sequel, or a sequel, or a sequel, or a sequel, or several other sequels, or Coco. A few of these sequels are wholly merited, commercially as well as artistically. A few others make sense from a bean counter’s perspective — the first movie made a lot of money, and people seemed to like it — but not necessarily from a narrative one. But why should the lack of a logical story or a compelling reason to reunite a bunch of beloved characters stand in the way of making a bunch of money?

“It shouldn’t!” cried Hollywood executives. And that brings us to this list, where good to great (to a few all-time great) movies were turned into middling to bad (to a few all-time horrendous) franchises. Just because a movie is a hit does not mean it can support an entire series of subsequent stories. But that has never stopped a movie studio. (Literally, it has never stopped them.) The ten franchises that follow probably includes some of your favorite movies ever made — and possibly your least favorite sequels ever made. In no particular order, the best movies that became the worst franchises are...